Many electronic devices include a collection of chips, dies, or other components electrically interconnected using ball grid array packages that connect the dies to a circuit board. It is often desirable to manufacture semiconductor devices with ball grid array packages using conventional techniques, such as plastic transfer molding, that are less complex, more efficient, more productive, and less expensive than the techniques typically used for ball grid array packages, such as liquid encapsulation. In addition, it is desirable to increase the conduction of heat away from the dies of packaged semiconductor devices to improve electrical and thermal performance. For example, absent appropriate heat removal mechanisms, the temperature within and around a typical die may increase to an undesirable extent during operation, leading to reduced performance or even failure of the device.
As semiconductor devices become increasingly complex to satisfy additional processing requirements, reducing or eliminating deleterious temperature effects on electrical performance, while simultaneously reducing the complexity, increasing the efficiency, increasing the productivity, and reducing the expense of the packaging process becomes increasingly important. A known technique for conducting heat away from a die includes thermally connecting the die to an external heat sink to conduct heat away from the die to the heat sink during operation of the device. However, such techniques are often inadequate because the electrical circuitry and associated wires that connect the die to the remainder of the device may leave insufficient space for a desirable thermal connection. As a result, performance may suffer. Furthermore, the substrate of the ball grid array that provides this circuitry, which is often a significant manufacturing expense, may not be limited to the regions in which electrical connection is necessary. Furthermore, conventional manufacturing processes used for semiconductor packages with ball grid arrays often involve relatively complex, inefficient, less productive, and more expensive techniques such as liquid encapsulation.